With the announcement of results for the 15th bar exam approaching, lawyer groups held a rally urging the government to cut the number of successful applicants.
On the 23rd, the Korean Bar Association and the Seoul Bar Association rallied outside the government complex in Gwacheon, where the Ministry of Justice is located, calling for a reduction in the number of bar exam passers.
In opening remarks, Korean Bar Association President Kim Jeong-uk said the 15th bar exam pass list would be released soon, but criticized what he called the government’s “irresponsibility” in deciding how many will pass.
Kim said the government had broken a promise made when law schools were introduced to gradually reduce or consolidate adjacent licensed professions whose work overlaps with lawyers. Instead, he said, the government has kept a selection system that produces large numbers of both lawyers and lawyer-like professions at the same time.
He said the number of lawyers, about 10,000 when law schools were introduced, is now nearing 40,000, rising at a pace he described as unprecedented globally. He added that, compared with major countries, South Korea has the largest number of lawyer-like professions operating in the market, intensifying competition in a legal market with limited demand.
Kim said the influx of new lawyers has far exceeded the market’s capacity, leaving many unable to uphold their professional mission and struggling simply to survive. He urged the Justice Ministry to set this year’s number of successful applicants at 1,500 or fewer.
The Korean Bar Association previously held a news conference outside the Gwacheon complex on the 6th, also calling for fewer lawyers.
According to the association, the median income in the legal market has fallen to 30 million won a year or less. It said the number of people in lawyer-like professions, including judicial scriveners and tax accountants, totals about 600,000 — about three times Japan’s level on a per-capita basis.
The association said the situation has fueled overheated advertising competition and lower legal fees, which it said has led to side effects including poor-quality representation and more disciplinary cases, as the profession becomes oversupplied.
The Justice Ministry is set to announce the 15th bar exam pass list on the 24th, legal circles said. Last year, 1,744 people passed out of 3,336 test-takers, for a 52.28% pass rate.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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